Fastening device



May 21 1946- G. A. TINNERMAN 2400,666

FASTENING DEVICE Filed Deo, 11, 1945 INVENoR. coxa: A Dune-nm Patented May 21, 1946 FASTENING DEVICE George A. Tinnerman, Cleveland, h10, assignor to Tinnerman Products, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Original application July 31, 1936, Serial No.

` 93,679, now Patent No. 2,159,573, dated May 23, 1939. Divided and application February 23,

1939, Serial No. 257,900, now Patent No.` 2,266,832, dated December 23, 1941. Divided and application August 16, 1941, Serial No. 407,181, now Patent No. 2,391,046, dated December 18, 1945. Again divided and this'application December 11, 1943, Serial No. 513,867

The present application is a division of my application No. 407,181, filed August 1.6, 1941, now U. S. Patent No. 2,391,046, issued December 18, 1945, as a division of application No. 257,900,

filed February 23, 1939, now Patent-No. 2,266,832,

issued December 23, 1941. The last-mentioned application in turn is a division of earlier application No. 93,679, filed July 31, 1936, now Patent 2,159,573, issued May 23, 1939.

This invention relates to a fastening device comprising a nut and a carrier therefor adapted to be secured to a support and hold the nut in proper position to receive a vbolt passing through the support.

It is an object of the present invention to provide in simple form a sheet metal carrier, which has means for positioning a nut which may be located on the upper side of the carrier or extend above it, the carrier having alsomeans extending downwardly from its opposite-ends to attach it firmly to a support. Another obj'ect of the invention is to enable the carrier to coact with a tapped nut which may be readily mounted on the carrier tongues I3. The end of each tongue I acts, therefore, as an abutment to limit the movement of the nut during the inserting operation, so as to effect automatically registration of the opening II in the body with the boit opening in the nut. 'I'he body may have spring tabs I6 ex-A tending downwardly. and inwardly adjacentthe ends thereof to provide converging hooks, solthat the fastener may be pressed or snapped into engagement with spaced openings in the Iarticle for positioning the fastener inthe desired location with reference to the article.

It will lbe seen that the overhanging flanges I4 engaging the top of the tapped nut prevent sepa- 4ration of the nut and carrier in the axial direction, while the engagement of the fiat sides I3 with at sides of the nut prevent its rotation.l

l The fastener illustrated in Fig.; 2 has preferably an arched body 30 corresponding to that shown in Fig. 1, but the nut 2| 4is held in piace by spring tension exerted against the wall of the groove 22, which extend along opposite faces of the nut.

and has an angular exterior engaged by means on the carrier nut against rotation relative to the carrier, while the carrier has projections at its ends for anchoring itself to the support, so that the nut is held in proper registration with a bolt opening through the support.

Two embodiments of my invention are illustrated in the drawing hereof and are hereinafter more fully described, while the essential novel features are set out inA the claims.

In the drawing, Fig.' 1 is a perspective ofone form of my two-part fastening device; Fig. 2 is a perspective of another form thereof; Figs. 3 and 4 are longitudinal sections of the fasteners shown in Figs. 1 and 2 respectively.

Referring ncw'to Fig. 1, the fastener there shown comprises a body of sheet metal, which is indicated at I0, and which is -preferably arched upwardly from end to end. The mid-portion of the body has a bolt receiving opening I I in registration with the bolt opening in a nut 20. The nut retainingv means may comprisel tongues I3, each of which is struck upwardly from the body to leave open sections, and each of which has an inturned flange. I4 adjacent the upper end thereof. The tongues are sufficiently close to exert spring pressure upon two side walls of the nut, so as to hold it securely in place. If desired, additional tongues I5 may be struck upwardly, one on each side of the body, for engaging the other side walls of the nut, which may be disposed at right angles to the faces which engageV the To position the nut on the fastener, the body of the fastener has an opening 3| therein, shaped to form two sections, one of which is larger than the overall dimensions of the nut, and the other` of which is reduced insize to provide guideways 32 upon which the nut is supported. The fastener may also be provided with article-engaging Spring tabs 36 at the ends thereof, by means of which it may be snapped into place and held upon the article,- as heretofore described, with reference to Fig. 1.

The embodiment ci Figs. 2 and 4, like that of Figs. 1 and 3,' has downward1y projecting tongues I6 at the ends of the carrier. Accordingly, either embodiment is adapted to be readily and firmly anchored to a support by means of these tongues.

When so attached the tapped nut is properly positioned.

1n either embodiment the nut may be mountedk on the carrier either before the carrier is mounted on the support or after such mounting, as may be more convenient. Whether the carrier is attached or free, the nut is mounted on the carrier merely by being shoved from a1 convenient position into place on the carrier, the shoving action in the first embodiment being laterally of the car- 'rier and in the second embodiment longitudinally thereof.

It will be observed that, in each of the embodiments in my invention, the spring action of the clip if it has the arched form shown holds the nut out of contact with the support when the clip-is first applied to the support, and before the l bolt has been screwed home; but when the bolt is turned in, toits nal position, the nut-is thereby drawn towardthe support and the clip attened, so that its spring action tends to force the nut away from the support, thus establishing a' frictional stress between the nut threads and the bolt threads, producing a nu-locking ac'- tion which, in this case, restrains the unscrewing of the bolt.

From the foregoing description. it will be apparent that I have devised a fastener that can be economically made, and which will operate sheet material of arched form having retaining tongues at its opposite ends, said sheet having an opening -through it with a narrower extension, thus leaving inwardly projecting ribs, and

a nut of a size to be inserted in the wider portion of the opening and having grooves in Vopv posite walls adapted to be occupied by said ribs in a satisfactory manner to position a standard nut placed for receiving a threaded bolt. It will also be apparent that the fastener not only holds the nut in bolt receiving position, but also holds it against rotation during the tightening operation and exerts a nut-locking action on the bolt. The invention is further advantageous in that the fastener may be snapped or pressed into place on the supporting member and is selfretained in bolt-receiving position.

I claixn:

1. A nut holder comprising a. strip `of resilient sheet metal of arched form, downwardly and inwardly projecting hooks at opposite ends of the strip, a pair of tongues cut out from the body vof the clip but attached to it at their adjacent ends, at a distance apart corresponding to the width of a nut to be embraced, said tongues extending upwardly from thel body of .the clip and then 'anged toward each other to overlie the top of-the nut, and short tongues cut out from the side portions of the body and raised slightly to engage the other two walls of the nut, the nut being adapted to be slid into place across one of the short tongues by movement parallel with the intermediate upstanding flanged tongues.

2.v A nut holder comprising a strip of resilient when the inserted nut is slid lengthwise of the clip. f

3. A nut holder comprising a strip of resilient sheet metal of bowed form, projecting hooks at the ends oi the strip turned inwardly toward the concave side of the bow, said strip. having I ongitudinally elongated sections through the strip providing integral resilient means to engage and hold the opposite sides of a threaded nut, whichy may be inserted by pressing the nut laterally thereof to position.

4. A two-part fastenercomprising a bowed strip of resilient sheet material having downwardly projecting tongues at'its opposite ends to attach the strip to a support and integral projecting portions partially severed from thestrip and bent upwardly from intermediate regions to overhang the top of a nut resting o'n the c lip the holder having provision to engage the nut in a manner to retain it in assembled position on the holder.

GEORGE A. TINNERMAN. 

